


The Most Spooky-ful Time of the Year

by the_impardis



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: 13 Nights of Hartmon, Halloween, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-08-23 13:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8329819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_impardis/pseuds/the_impardis
Summary: My 13 Nights of Hartmon contribution, attempted to be melded into one cognisant story, featuring the most dastardly villain to ever grace DC Comics.





	1. Decorating

**Author's Note:**

> i honestly only remembered to write this because i saw momomoon's tumblr post. you the real mvp.

When Hartley walked into STAR Labs the first thing he noticed was it was more… orange than usual.

 

The second thing he noticed was the chains of bats across the glass separating the medical and engineering offices from Team Flash’s meeting space.

 

The third thing was Cisco Ramon, standing amid the green, purple and orange chaos.

 

Hartley couldn’t stop the sigh that escaped him, tossing his bag onto the nearest chair. “Do I want to know why it looks like a cheap craft store threw up in our office?”

 

Cisco turned to face Hartley, grin widening. “It’s Halloween, man! We gotta get our spook on.”

 

“It’s the 19th of October. Nearly two weeks until Halloween. Also I wasn’t aware we were all still children.”

 

“Come on, Hart.” Cisco drew out the ’n’ sound obnoxiously long while maintaining those stupid puppy-dog eyes on Hartley. “You gotta get into the festive spirit or else it’s just like any other day since we’re adults. Also, I’ll have you know that plenty of adults celebrate Halloween.”

 

Hartley made certain he didn’t stare at Cisco’s eyes for too long to maintain the bite in his argument. “Yeah, but adult celebrations of Halloween tend toward the side of getting drunk in a nightclub vaguely schemed around wearing costumes. This looks like a more sanitised version.”

 

“That’s only because Barry can’t get drunk, Wally is too young to drink and the sound would probably make a rave awful for you. Also Caitlin said we can’t take a night off to all go clubbing with Dr Alchemy around.”

 

Hartley held in his first retort, because that was actually really considerate of Cisco to think about having the whole team off, but realising that almost half the team wouldn’t enjoy a traditional celebration.

 

“Well, Caitlin was always the smarter one between you two,” Hartley finally responded, but with far less bite than he first anticipated the comment to. Cisco smiled back as though Hartley had just said something hilarious.

 

“So you keep telling me, and yet I’m not entirely sure that you believe it. Anyway, I’m gonna be headed off for the start of November to chill with my grandparents for Día de Muertos so it wouldn’t be smart to take Halloween off as well.”

 

“I thought that wasn’t celebrated much in Puerto Rico.”

 

Cisco blushed infinitesimally. “No, but my abuela was Columbian, and she made us celebrate it for a good few years before mum and dad made her stop. Dante liked Halloween more because of the free food and that.”

 

Suddenly the conversation seemed to have dove from workplace banter to deeper, more personal conversations and Hartley felt vaguely like he was drowning, if he was forced to finish that metaphor.

 

“I never really did Halloween with the costumes and free candy. I went to a couple of Halloween balls with my parents, though. Not that they were ever really fun.” Why had Hartley brought up that information, unbidden? He didn’t need Cisco to realise he was even more oblivious to normal things than he inevitably thought he was.

 

Cisco made a sound a bit like a shocked deer. “You’ve never gone trick-or-treating before?”

 

Hartley shook his head, determinedly looking somewhere that wasn’t Cisco, until his eyes landed on a giant fake spider and he turned instinctively to Cisco so as to not look at the spider.

 

“We’ll go out then, and totally do that. In like a week or something I’m taking my niece around to trick-or-treat and you can join us, like, if you want?”

 

“I’ll consider it,” Hartley replied shortly. “In the meantime, was there something particular you planned to do with the crepe paper infesting my work station?”

 

Cisco beamed at Hartley. Did he always smile like that? All sincere and warm and so openly happy? How were Barry and Caitlin not blinded regularly?

 

“I was thinking that would frame the screens on that wall,” he said, gesturing vaguely behind him.

 

“Next to the Flash costume?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

The two still hadn’t broken eye contact, and Hartley could feel his cheeks going red under Cisco’s grin.

 

He awkwardly cleared his throat, and moved toward the mounds of crepe paper. “Do you,” Hartley began, before feeling the redness return to his cheeks, “I mean, will you need help putting it all up? I mean, what with Barry being the Flash, speed will be of the essence if this decoration is supposed to be a surprise.”

 

As if the mention of Barry snapped a spell on Cisco, he bounded toward Hartley. “That would be really great, man! Thanks!”

 

“You’re welcome,” Hartley mumbled back, staring determinedly at the purple paper beneath him and trying to dispel the blush from his cheeks.

 

And if when putting the paper up and stuffing the rest in the medbay Hartley’s hands brushed against Cisco’s he didn’t notice.

 

And if Cisco kept their hands together for a fraction longer than would be considered socially acceptable, he didn’t notice either.


	2. Pranks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw if you're afraid of spiders, there is one mentioned here (it's a prop but still) just so you know

Caitlin entered the lab almost a half hour after the decorating had been finished, and ignored it impressively well. Hartley was certain she rolled her eyes, but it was hard to prove for sure.

 

Barry arrived soon after, grinning widely when he saw the Halloween decorations around his suit and the computers.

 

“This looks so fun, Cisco. Can’t wait for it either.”

 

Cisco had the grace to blush slightly under the praise, before smiling back at Barry. “Thanks bro. Hartley helped with a lot of the decoration, though. Dude has a way better eye for aesthetic brilliance than me.”

 

Now Hartley could feel himself blushing. “I guess it’s what you get when you’re brought up to know how to make everything look immaculate.”

 

Still, Barry turned to Hartley, his grin diminished in no way. “It looks amazing, Hart. And I’m sure that Wally and Iris will agree. Iris definitely. She loves Halloween. We did so many pair costumes when we were younger.”

 

“I can believe that,” Caitlin called over her shoulder from her workstation. “When’s she coming in?”

 

“She said that she’s got a spooky article to get finished before she comes here. Something to do with one of those volunteer-run pumpkin carving stations getting destroyed. She said she’ll be here by lunchtime; it isn’t a big story.”

 

“Yeah, but there’d be pumpkin carnage everywhere,” said Cisco. “That would totally get you into the Halloween mood.” His voice shifted into a deeper, more film-trailer voice. “The dastardly murders of those innocent pumpkins. Seeds everywhere. Oh the pump-manity!”

 

“Oh, come off it,” Caitlin snorted, before jumping back from her cabinet with a shriek.

 

Immediately, Barry had flashed Caitlin away from her office to the middle of the room with Cisco and Hartley, who was fumbling through his bag for his gloves.

 

There was a beat of tense silence, then Cisco doubled over laughing. Hartley and Caitlin turned to look at him, while Barry fished into the cabinet to pull out the offending object.

 

Almost as soon as Barry was able to recognise what he was holding, he flung it down so everyone could see what had scared Caitlin.

 

It was the massive fake spider Cisco had nabbed from the decoration pile, citing a special mission for their arachnid associate. In the well-lit centre of STAR Labs, its glittering eyes and furry body were crass and obviously fake, but still disconcerting. Hartley probably would have made a similar noise if he were the one being pranked.

 

In almost perfect unison, Caitlin and Barry whirled on Cisco, who was wiping tears from his eyes.

 

“Sorry, I just- dude it was so, you were both so good oh my god I was not expecting that much of a reaction.” Cisco held out a hand to Hartley, which he cautiously high-fived back. 

 

“Cisco! That wasn’t funny!” but despite Caitlin’s claims otherwise, her mouth was twitching into a smile. “That actually really scared me.”

 

“Yeah, dude, at least let us know if you want to start a prank war,” Barry chimed in, already looking as though he were planning a counter-attack.

 

“Sorry guys,” Cisco finally said. “It wasn’t meant to really scare you, just get you into the Halloween spirit. And I’d say it totally worked for that. Don’t you feel more ready to eat candy or frighten people randomly?”

 

“I’m always ready to eat candy, Cisco. You didn’t need to drop a giant spider in Caitlin’s area to make me want to eat chocolate.”

 

Cisco shrugged his agreement. “I’ll keep that in mind for next time we decide to prank you.”

 

After spending so long just watching the others speak, Hartley finally broke from his reverie. “I’m sorry, ‘we’? I had nothing to do with this, Caitlin. And I will not be dragged into a juvenile prank war because of Cisco’s mistake.”

 

“Too late,” Cisco cheerily replied. “Team Ramon-Rathaway is go and we are going to destroy Cait and Barry at this prank war. And quickly, before Barry can use his devilish wiles and get Iris on their side.”

 

“I would not use devilish wiles!”

 

Everyone in the room just stared at Barry sympathetically. He sighed loudly then made a point to grab Caitlin and move her away from Hartley and Cisco, already whispering in her ear about what they could do.

 

Hartley determinedly didn’t adjust his hearing aids to hear their mutterings, before turning to Cisco after hearing a specific phrase.

 

“‘Quito, we need to-”

 

The rest of Hartley’s sentence was cut off by the telltale ‘whoosh’ of Barry speeding away then returning almost instantly after, armed with rolls of toilet paper.

 

Before Cisco or Hartley could move, they were completely wrapped in the toilet paper, leaving only their eyes and noses uncovered to look at each other in shock.

 

Barry walked back over to Caitlin and high-fived her. “Toilet paper mummies. Joe got so mad at me when I was 11 and used all the paper in the house to do that for a Halloween costume. Iris was Cleopatra.”

 

Cisco pulled against the wrappings over his arms and broke out of his trap. “Well played, Allen, well played. You win this round,” he said as he continued to pull toilet paper from his legs, before moving over to Hartley and helping him undo the spiral around his head.

 

Hartley hadn’t moved since he got wrapped up, painfully aware that his hearing aids were far more sensitive than usual and any unnecessary jostling would not be fun, so he passively let Cisco undo the wrappings from his head until he could whisper to Cisco to turn his aids down.

 

Cisco’s eyes widened in either understanding, or at the memory of when he had used Hartley’s hearing aids against him, and carefully brushed aside Hartley’s hair to move the dial back to its regular range. Hartley definitely didn’t shiver at all at the brief moment of contact. He definitely didn’t feel like it was intimate at all.

 

As soon as his aids were fixed, Hartley pulled himself free from the toilet paper confines similarly to Cisco and turned back to Caitlin and Barry.

 

“A classic trick, however I think I’m all pranked out for today.” He nodded to Caitlin. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

 

He clapped Barry on the shoulder then moved around Cisco to grab his bag, carefully brushing his arm as he went past in lieu of a vocal thank you.

 

He knew Cisco knew what it meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you think iris's story is unrelated??? welllllllll


	3. Candy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "so, why do you give all these traits to characters with minimal canonical traits?"
> 
> "unhealthy projection, mostly"

The next couple of days were light on Flash-related incidents, so Hartley spent most of his time either tinkering with his gloves or trying not to focus on Cisco while he was in conversation with Caitlin or Barry or Wally or Jesse or Iris.

 

It was definitely successful, and Hartley didn’t at all notice the way that when Cisco spoke, his entire body moved as part of the conversation, or how every time Cisco laughed, it was full and round and made him slightly breathless the next time he spoke.

 

Hartley didn’t get breathless hearing it either.

 

It was possibly because Hartley was so determinedly wrapped up in his own mind, that he wasn’t alerted to Iris’s presence behind him until she spoke.

 

“Hey, Hartley?”

 

Hartley shot up, suddenly taking in Iris’s heartbeat and the sounds of her hair brushing her shoulders. Had he really ignored that much noise?

 

“Hi Iris. How’s your petty Halloween criminal piece coming?”

 

Iris grimaced. “Great. I’m sure I only got this job because they couldn’t foist it onto anyone else. I kinda want them to pull something bigger so Barry can beat them up.”

 

Hartley had to smile. Iris didn’t know him in his brief stint as a supervillain or head of engineering in STAR Labs, so was delightfully open in herself around him.

 

“Don’t wish too hard. I don’t want to spend a night of people dressing up in ridiculous costumes trying to chase down someone in a ridiculous costume.”

 

“Fair enough. Anyway, I was wondering if you could do me a favour since I’m kind of busy with this article and trying to convince Dad to take a night off to spend with me and Wally?”

 

“i guess. What do you need?”

 

“I promised Cisco I would go candy shopping with him for his niece, but I really can’t get away now and this is apparently his only free time today.”

******

And that was how Hartley found himself standing next to Cisco Ramon at the entrance of a warehouse that promised to be loaded with Halloween treats. Cisco was bouncing on his heels excitedly enough that Hartley wagered he wouldn’t need to buy more sugar, but the energy drained almost the moment they crossed the threshold.

The store was derelict, and only a few solitary bags of candy sat on the shelves. The one supermarket clerk gave the two men a sympathetic smile at the sight of Cisco’s face.

 

“Dammit! I knew I should have come earlier if we wanted to get good candy. Lucky I’m going trick-or-treating with Bianca, cause she would not stand for this second-rate stuff.”

 

Hartley remained silent as he walked behind Cisco, who was pulling random bags into his basket. Over his shoulder, Hartley was able to see liquorice and taffy enter the basket, as well as a bag on fun sized chocolates labelled “Mr Adequate-Bar”.

 

“It’s still over a week away from Halloween,” Hartley said. “Surely we came earlier than a lot of other people. There should be way more candy here.”

 

Cisco paused for a moment, causing Hartley to almost run into him. “Yeah. This is a bit weird, but maybe everyone just got really excited about Halloween and decided to get in early this year.”

 

“Yeah.” Somehow Hartley felt it was unlikely that the entire city had decided to unanimously feel far more passionate about Halloween on one particular year. He pulled out his phone to check it, when he was snapped back to Cisco at the sound of a loud gasp.

 

“What is it? Are you okay?”

 

Cisco released the breath he was holding and nodded. “Sorry dude, I’m totally fine- I just, look at these.” He gestured toward the bag of candy to his left emblazoned with the name ‘Gummy Chairs- the fuCHAIR of sweet treats!’

 

Hartley couldn’t hold back the sigh that escaped him. “That is terrible.”

 

“I know,” said Cisco. “I’m buying three packets.”

 

As the pair rounded the aisle toward the cash register Cisco pumped his fist. “Finally some good candy!” He gestured toward the row of candy corn bags set up with a SALE sign placed next to them before grabbing a couple of bags.

 

Hartley sneered, but somehow it didn’t seem like it was very effective. “I thought you said there was good candy. Is it invisible or something?”

 

Cisco turned around, an expression of mock horror on his face. “You are one of the unbelievers then. I’m not even surprised. Candy corn is a gift that takes wisdom to appreciate.”

 

They made their way to the register, still bickering about the merits of candy corn, with Cisco proclaiming his disbelief at “being saddled with a candy corn-hater” until the woman at the checkout giggled at them.

Both men stopped in their tracks to stare at the girl; blonde, petite and wearing a badge with ‘Ellen’ written on it.

 

Immediately she looked embarrassed. “Sorry,” she said. “You are just really cute together is all.”

 

Hartley felt his face tingle with the telltale sign of redness, as Cisco devolved into a coughing fit.

 

“Sorry,” Cisco pushed out around his coughs. “We aren’t together.”

 

“Oh, my apologies.” She finished scanning the items, ran up the total and bagged the sweets.

 

“It’s fine,” Hartley said, despite the redness in his cheeks. “Have a lovely day.”

 

Out in the carpark Cisco was finally able to compose himself just in time to hear Hartley mutter out an apology.

 

He stopped dead in his tracks. “What are you sorry for, man?”

 

Hartley resolutely looked anywhere but Cisco. “I’m sorry that she mistook us to be a couple. I know that with my history, it’s bad enough for us to be seen in public together, let alone as partners in a relationship.”

 

“Why is your history bad? I mean, I get it with your parents and-”

 

“I was merciless towards you the first few years I knew you. I had plans to kill Barry. I hurt you. I mean, We’d barely even qualify as friends, let alone as partners.”

 

“You don’t think we’re friends?” Cisco asked in almost the smallest voice Hartley had ever heard from him.

 

Hartley whirled around to see Cisco staring at the ground, tensing for a blow Hartley wasn’t going to deliver and his heart sank. This wasn’t the time to be having this conversation, and they were outside a damn superstore.

 

“I just,” Hartley paused, unsure of what he was even going to say. “I never thought you’d want to be friends with me after everything I’ve done.”

 

Cisco looked up and their eyes met. “Of course I’d want, I mean I thought we’d moved past that and we were already friends. I’ve thought of you as a friend for ages.”

 

“Really?”

 

Finally the contact was broken as Cisco fished into the shopping bag.

 

“Of course. Now do you wanna sit in the car and eat gummy chairs to celebrate our recently christened friendship?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all of the loser candy in this chapter is imported straight from the summerween episode of gravity falls. also on the candy corn debate- i've never eaten candy corn in my life so i have no idea who i'd side with on this.
> 
> also shoutout to ellen because i love her <3


	4. Costumes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> credit to craptaincold on tumblr for the halloween costume choice.

The monotony of working around in circles to try and make Barry go faster without killing him was broken by Iris triumphantly slamming down a newspaper on the desk.

 

“I finally got a picture of my guy.”

 

“I thought you and Barry took selfies all the time,” Hartley said from the side of the room before Caitlin gently slapped his arm.

 

“No,” Iris said, not even trying to look irritated at the interruptions. “My Halloween criminal. He finally did something with a camera around it. And it was even colour.”

 

Team Flash gathered around the photo to look at it.

 

The man in the image was dressed in a red bodysuit with attached hood, and flowing from his shoulders was a cape that seemed to be made up of lots of squares of paper.

 

“Nice. Looks like he’s put more effort into appearances than your average vandal,” said Cisco. “You think he’s a meta? If he is I call dibs on his name.”

 

“He’s already got a name, man,” Wally said from next to Iris. “Everyone’s calling him Calendar Man because of the cloak thing.”

 

Cisco’s entire expression soured and he turned to Iris. “You named him without me?”

 

“He already had the name, Cisco. It’s a trending hashtag city-wide.”

 

“No, no, no this is awful. That’s not even a cool name at all. That doesn’t strike fear into the heart of anyone, let alone criminals. This is why I always pick the names.”

 

“Not always. I came up with my own,” said Hartley. “And Caitlin’s done a couple as well.”

 

“That doesn’t count. Caitlin only named them with my permission, and you were such a jerk at the time you wouldn’t have let anyone else name you, especially me.”

 

“Still wouldn’t,” Hartley cheerily agreed.

 

“And even without the name at least you were sensible with your costume.”

 

“I wore gloves and a hoodie,” Hartley said flatly.

 

“Precisely! It was understated. Simple. This guy is trying to rob stuff dressed in an over-glorified red morph suit. And the cape. I have strong feelings about capes and this guy is proving every one of them.”

 

“What cape theories do you have?” asked Caitlin, who seemed to be finding this outburst very entertaining.

 

“No capes!” Cisco said. “Edna Mode said it and it still stands, guys. Capes are dangerous, they get in the way, and let’s be real, if Barry got his hands on any cape the guy would get it over their head or tied around them in a heartbeat.”

 

“True,” Barry said affably.

 

“Honestly, this costume is awful, this guy’s name is awful and you should stop writing about him this instant Iris.”

 

“I’ll take that all on board and do none of it, Cisco,” Iris smiled. “You do know it’s actually my job to write about this, don’t you? Not just some hobby.”

 

“Whatever,” Cisco grumbled. “I thought we were friends.”

 

“And friends tell friends when they’re being ridiculous, Cisco,” said Barry. “And you’re kinda being ridiculous, man. You were just saying that his suit looked good before we mentioned that he already had a name.”

 

“Weren’t you planning out something else to do with costumes, Cisco?” Caitlin asked, trying to draw Cisco from his rant, and it worked.

 

“Actually, yeah- I was!”

 

“Do you need me to help out with it?” asked Barry.

 

“Nah, bro,” said Cisco. “You can go home if you want, I just need Hartley for this.”

 

“Cool.”

 

Barry sped out, followed closely by the two Wests and Caitlin, who was talking in low tones to Iris and gesturing toward Cisco and smiling.

 

“So what did you want to discuss? Is this to do with Barry being able to vibrate in the suit? Because if Captain Cold resurfaces and freezes Barry again, I think it would be very useful if Barry had the choice-”

 

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about superhero costumes. This is for Halloween, dude!”

 

“Oh.”

 

Cisco turned around and took in Hartley’s closed off body language.

 

“Oh, did we not ever actually agree that you were gonna come trick-or-treating with Bianca and me? Sorry dude, don’t worry about it.”

 

“No, I mean-” Hartley found himself stepping toward Cisco without giving his body permission to do so. “I thought you were just saying it and didn’t mean it, but I’d love to come.”

 

Cisco’s entire frame brightened and he pulled Hartley into a one-sided hug for a brief moment before letting him go again. “Sorry. I think Bianca will really like you though. It’s been a bit of a mix of stories I’ve told her about you.”

 

“You’ve told your niece stories about me?”

 

Cisco blushed. “Well, yeah. Back before the accelerator exploded they were probably a bit, not-flattering. But the last time I saw her she was very excited when I told her I knew the Flash and the Pied Piper. I think she may have a bit of a crush on you.”

 

“Oh. I don’t think she’s my type. Or in my age range.”

 

“Hartley, I know we are friends, but if you ever date any of my family members it will be without my blessing.”

 

“I think I can live with that. Dante doesn’t seem like he’d be my type either. Discussion with him would be as scintillating as a talk with a brick wall.”

 

Cisco laughed and suddenly the air was lighter and Hartley felt both infinitely more comfortable, and as though all the air in his lungs dropped through his stomach.

 

“So,” Hartley endeavoured to regain control of his processes. “What are you dressing up as with Bianca?”

 

“She’s been on a Harry Potter kick since her mum finally let her read The Sorcerer’s Stone. She’s going to be Hermione. And I even made her this!”

 

Cisco dashed into the office space again, before returning almost immediately, brandishing a wand.

 

“I 3D printed it for her. It’s a replica of Hermione’s wand in the movies and it lights up at its tip. I was going to make it voice activated, but I’m not seeing Bianca before we pick it up so it’ll just be a button. But mine,” Cisco paused to grin widely at Hartley, “is going to be voice controlled. I’m even putting a few different coloured lights on for different spells.”

 

Cisco’s eyes were sparkling in excitement. Already, Hartley found himself slipping in and out of paying attention to what Cisco was saying in lieu of just watching his eyes light up when he talked about something he loved.

 

“So who are you going to be to accompany Miss Granger?” Hartley attempted to steer the conversation back onto a safer subject that Cisco would be less distracting with.

 

“I’m gonna be Harry freakin’ Potter, Hart. I’ve totally got the hair for it. And sass levels. So it would be good if you were from the Harry Potter universe so we co-ordinated and you weren’t just the weird third wheel in trick-or-treating.”

 

Quietly, Hartley already felt like he was going to be third wheeling. And he wasn’t sure why that bothered him so much.

 

“Which is also why I wanted to know who you were going to be a couple of days in advance- so I can program a wand for you that matches your character. So who you wanna be? Oh my god please be Ron Weasley you would be a hilarious ginger.”

 

“If I ever dye my hair orange, presume there is a mind-controlling meta terrorising the city. I’m not turning my hair ginger, Cisco.”

 

“Fine. What about Malfoy. I guess you’re kind of blondish.”

 

“I used to be blonder. I’ve bleached my hair Malfoy-blond before.”

 

Cisco stared at Hartley. “That is a mental image I will treasure forever.”

 

“Well, maybe one day I’ll show you a picture.” Why was he saying this? Why wasn’t this conversation ending? Already Hartley was sure he was going to walk out of the room and regret everything he’d said in it.

 

“I’m going to hold you to that. Now, for the rest of the night I’m thinking we should get your voice control done. And this is actually really cool cause I didn’t want to program the Killing Curse into my wand. But you could definitely get away with it.”

 

Hartley definitely didn’t blush because it wasn’t a compliment. But the way Cisco said it gave his cheeks pause, because he sure made it sound like one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just fyi cisco is a hufflepuff and hartley is a ravenclaw (he didn't get a hatstall but the sorting hat considered his shrewd ambition to make him a possible slytherin) pry these headcanons away from my cold, dead hands. the 'harry freakin' potter' thing is because i still can't believe that carlos wrote like half the songs in avpm and mamd
> 
> also calendar man is one of the greatest villains ever and everything cisco says about him reflects my personal views


	5. Halloween Movies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i grew up in a white, christian, australian suburb- so i don't know a lot about halloween. hence mentioning only three movies, and having them all be musical (my interests that christianity allow, rather than the devil's birthday)

The next morning at STAR Labs was different. 

 

Hartley wasn’t entirely sure how he was supposed to act, because he had spent much of the night in the lab, suggesting incantations and wand structure for his Halloween costume with Cisco and therefore had only seen him a few hours ago. And yet, through the bickering and adjustments to wand blueprints, somehow their banter had evolved from superficial workplace chat to something else.

 

Hartley wasn’t used to having friends before he was inaugurated into Central City’s Scooby Gang, much less even considered seeking out someone he actively wanted to spend time with. And yet, every time Cisco came up with an idea that was logistically flawed, Hartley kept his mouth shut, just so he could talk for longer with Cisco before he realised his own mistake.

 

Was there something that Hartley was supposed to do differently? Over the last few days, it seemed as though his classification went from close colleague to friend, and despite everything that had happened in the past, Hartley wasn’t entirely opposed to developing his bond with Cisco further.

 

Another factor of difference was the sounds pulsating from the main room. With only some seven or so people regularly spending time in the building, the majority of space was empty. But today, from about four corridors away from the main office Hartley was able to pick up the sound of music without adjusting his hearing aids at all.

 

It wasn’t until Hartley was two corridors away that he was able to recognise the vibrations for their song.

 

As he walked over the threshold, Hartley was met with the sight of Cisco spinning madly while Wally seemed to be in the process of convincing Jesse to join in dancing. Abruptly, Cisco stopped in place as they waited for the song’s words.

 

“It’s just a jump to the left.”

 

Everyone in the lab except Hartley unanimously hopped to their left, then tapped their right legs out. The dance continued through pelvic thrusts and wide arms gestures until Wally noticed Hartley in the entrance as the second verse began.

 

“Hey Hart! Join in- Cisco made an entire Halloween movie playlist!”

 

As Hartley put up his hands to politely refuse, Cisco jumped over and tugged on them to spin the two around until Hartley was in a wider space with him before starting to dance again. “With a bit of a mind flip,” Cisco sang in a poor imitation of Riff Raff to Hartley, willing him with his eyebrows to continue.

 

Well, Hartley reasoned, he was planning on acting differently today. “You’re into the time slip!”

 

Cisco beamed. “And nothing,” he said, pulling Hartley in closer and adjusting their hands so he was no longer tugging, rather holding them, “will ever be the same.”

 

“You’re spaced out on sensations,” Hartley tightened his grip on Cisco slightly as they both took a breath to sing together.

 

“Like you’re under seda-a-a-a-tion!”

 

“Let’s do the Time Warp again! Let’s do the Time Warp again!”

 

As the dance continued with everyone just shouting the chorus at each other, Hartley tried to throw himself in with the excitement, and it sort of worked, if he could only stop focussing on the tingling in his hands where he swore he could still feel the imprint of Cisco’s hand in his.

 

He didn’t focus on how nice it had felt either.

 

As the song wound down after Jesse did a very impressive impromptu tap solo, Hartley took a moment to actually say good morning to everyone else in the lab, before jovial bells started up.

 

Hartley turned to Cisco. “I thought this was supposed to be a Halloween playlist? This movie literally has the word ‘Christmas’ in the title.”

 

“And the first song is called ‘This is Halloween’,” Cisco shot back. “It’s appropriate anytime between October and January.”

 

Wally and Jesse shot each other a look that conveyed an entire conversation, before starting to sing “what’s this?” to every object in the office.

 

All tension diffused, the group launched back into song around the lab.

 

Hartley found himself jumping around the lab with a grin as he ran around Wally and spun towards Jesse, almost whooping. This was a dizzying, simple kind of fun that Hartley couldn’t recall having had before. Had he ever felt this easy kind happiness before? Was this why people liked having friends so much?

 

“-This empty place inside me is filling up, I simply cannot get enough- I want it, oh I want it, how I want it for my own.” Wally, Jesse and Cisco were still singing and had conducted a reasonable harmony between the three of them while Hartley just watched.

 

The song tapered off soon after and Hartley found himself still rooted to the floor watching the trio in the middle of the room.

 

The next song began quietly and breathily, and Cisco immediately shuffled so he was between Wally and Jesse, rather than to the side.

 

“I put a spell on you,” he sang. “And now you’re mine.”

 

He flicked his hair back and spun before continuing the song, Jesse and Wally muttering choreography behind Cisco. Cisco himself stalked toward Hartley and pulled him into the dance area right as the music turned from wind and violin to a more drum-driven section. 

 

Wally and Jesse began stepping side to side as Cisco continued Bette Midler’s dialogue to Hartley in an exaggerated voice. Even that couldn’t take away from the enjoyment of Hartley’s day, and he joined in the backing vocals with Wally and Jesse.

 

The final chorus neared, bringing a crescendo with it that Cisco amplified with gusto. “I put a spell on you,” he spun Hartley before pulling him closer, until the two men were almost chest to chest. Cisco froze.

 

Bette Midler’s tinny, speaker-magnified voice continued without Cisco’s help though, and she crooned “and now you’re mine,” out into the room, before continuing with a gibberish spell. Hartley barely heard it; the pounding of blood in his ears was taking all of his hearing aids’ attention, and the fact that he and Cisco were still pressed against each other was taking up the attention of the rest of him.

 

The song finally hit its belt note and Cisco was pulled away by Jesse to dance, while Wally took Hartley. The song finished with Jesse pulling Cisco into a dramatic pose and Wally looking sheepish next to a shellshocked Hartley.

 

Another song began but Hartley didn’t register what it was. He had promised that he would take the next day off to spend a day at the pop-up Halloween-themed amusement park with Cisco so he wasn’t third-wheeling Barry and Iris the entire day. He couldn’t back out of it so late and without an explanation.

 

Bette Midler echoed in Hartley’s head; “I put a spell on you, and now you’re mine.” Well, fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> songs used were the time warp (rocky horror picture show), what's this? (the nightmare before christmas) and i put a spell on you (hocus pocus)
> 
> also writing is hard. just a random comment i thought i should add


	6. Amusement Parks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Main ride based off two Indy rides I've actually been on, and what the plot demanded

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> amazing. it's a month since i was meant to post this. so proud.

Central City Park had been transformed for Halloween, with rides littered across the grass, as well as popcorn salesmen and ice creameries.

 

Carnival music interspersed with advertisements of the park’s attractions was pumped over loudspeakers, making it very difficult to focus on what Barry was saying to Cisco about Calendar Man.

 

“-I don’t know man, I just…” a child shrieking in delight cut out some of the sentence. “Stupid name, and that’s meant to be my thing anyway so…”

 

“I know, bro. Maybe we can…” Barry’s voice phased out for a moment. “or something like…”

 

Hartley must have been grimacing, because Iris grabbed him by the arm and signed “Too loud?”

 

Hartley only nodded.

 

Iris nodded back before signing “Maybe turn down?” and gestured to his hearing aids.

 

Hartley shook his head and leaned in to whisper to Iris. “Then I couldn’t hear the conversations with you guys.”

 

Somehow Iris was able to convey sad eyes with an understanding smile. Hartley made a silent vow to make sure Barry never lost this woman because she was amazing. She tapped Barry on the shoulder and whispered something to him, which he seemed to agree with. The Chinese Whispers continued to Cisco who nodded, before grabbing Hartley by the hand and steering him toward the edge of the fair.

 

Out of the ruckus in the centre of the park, Hartley was finally able to focus in on the average range of hearing. Barry and Iris were saying something ahead of him, but he couldn’t tell what, and Cisco was humming something that sounded vaguely familiar. Also, without the piercing white noise taking up all his attention, Hartley was able to realise that Cisco was rubbing small circles on his hand with his thumb to, presumably, try and help calm him down.

 

It was a sweet kind of physical affection that Hartley was not at all used to. But he was pretty sure he liked it.

 

By the time everyone had made it to the outskirts of the area still populated with rides, Hartley was able to hear himself think and could only feel rather than hear the vibrations of his friends’ hearts beating. Iris turned around to check on him, and raised a silent eyebrow at Hartley, seeing Cisco holding his hand. Hartley startled out of the touch and didn’t look to see Cisco’s reaction.

 

“Better now?” Iris signed.

 

“Yeah. Sorry for pulling you guys away from the main events,” said Hartley, revelling in the fact that his own voice sounded clear and regular in his ears.

 

“It’s fine,” said Barry. “I didn’t really want to be in the middle of things anyway. It’s harder to slip out to help people if you’re on a rollercoaster.”

 

“Are you not going on any roller coasters?” Cisco was definitely not pouting. And it wasn’t at all adorable. “Why did we even come here then? The overpriced food?”

 

“We can still go on some rides. I just didn’t want to be at the top of a Ferris Wheel when someone was robbing a bank or something.”

 

“What about rides that are inside?” Iris asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.

 

“That’s actually better for me, too,” Hartley added. “Easier to focus on the more immediate sounds.”

 

“Fine with me,” said Barry. “I wanted to go on the Indiana Jones ride anyway.”

 

“Dude, yes!” Cisco said. “Some of the greatest movies ever! Young Harrison Ford was such a major crush of mine for so long.”

 

“Everybody has a crush on young Harrison Ford,” said Iris. Hartley and Barry both nodded in agreement. “Not to mention a lot of people have a crush on older Harrison Ford.” Hartley and Barry both nodded solemnly again.

 

The line to the Indiana Jones ride was non-existent, so the four strode through warnings of not to ride if you were pregnant and signs boasting ‘recreations of classic scenes from the original trilogy!’ and ‘a ride to never forget!’ The attendant looked incredibly bored, and skated through instructions as Barry and Iris took the front cart, leaving Hartley and Cisco to the backseats.

 

The ride churned forward, and almost immediately the carts were thrown into a narrow cave with a boulder on their tail. Through a burning bar, down a sharp drop to land in Egypt, the ride slowed down as animatronic snakes wiggled around the walls and a bad imitation of Indiana Jones bemoaned their presence. The ride picked up speed again as it approached a ship, then finished the first part cycling past some wax people melting under the wrath of God.

 

Suddenly, the carts were moved to Hong Kong and a car chase began, bullet sound effects bouncing around the cart. Then the Hong Kong road transformed into a mine shaft with the Maharajah whooping from speakers behind the cart. They sped down a hill as the shaft flooded behind them, before slowing down to see Mola Ram grab the still-beating heart from one of his acolytes.

 

Cisco tensed up noticeably beside Hartley as the Thuggee fell to the ground, motionless. The ride kept speeding past goons towards Venetian sewers, but Hartley barely noticed. He was focussed on the careful breathing from Cisco even as his heart started beating more and more erratically.

 

By the time impersonations of Sean Connery and Harrison Ford were trying to escape a burning building, Cisco’s breathing had began to quicken, heaving in air and expelling it before it could even be used and his heart was pounding even faster.

 

Ignoring all the possible ways his action could lead to regret, Hartley slipped his hand into Cisco’s and began stroking it in mimicry of Cisco earlier. Cisco froze in place, but his breathing slowed down slightly until he sank down into the seat so his head was leaning almost into Hartley’s shoulder. His heartbeat sank back to a regular pace, and by the time the cart was lurching through the Canyon of the Crescent Moon his breathing had settled as well. 

 

Hartley was still holding Cisco’s hand when the ride jolted to a stop and the attendant from the beginning of the ride directed the group to the exit.

 

Iris and Barry jumped off and immediately started a conversation on their favourite parts of the movies, walking in tandem toward the exit. Cisco hoisted himself out of his seat toward the exit and waited for Hartley to do the same thing.

 

Hartley wasn’t expecting a ‘thank you’ for what he did, and Cisco didn’t give him one. As they walked back toward the sunlit area of the park, the only trace of what had happened in the ride lay in the hand Cisco carefully slid back into Hartley’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> noah fence i just want all my children to get a hug.


	7. Trick or Treating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cisco and Hartley take Bianca trick or treating and I get to indulge my Potterhead days of past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the lady mentioned is based after tumblr's lotstradamus, who probably doesn't know me, but i love the postings of. give them some love if you like hp stuff
> 
> also hover over the spanish for english translations (hopefully)

Hartley’s first thought when meeting Bianca was how similar she seemed to her uncle. She and Cisco seemed to fit together seamlessly, finishing sentences and starting new conversations over each other in a Spanglish mess about their costumes.

 

Bianca had been dropped off at STAR Labs with already wild natural hair, but Cisco had taken it further and teased the ends until her hair was twice the size of her head. Both Ramon’s were garbed in flowing robes and seemed to be having some kind of contest over who could spin faster and take up the most space.

 

Everyone else in the cortex had excused themselves after a few minutes of fawning over Bianca with other plans. Halloween itself was still a week out, but Cisco had organised for a couple of streets near his apartment to allow trick-or-treating early so Bianca could spend time with him before he left for Columbia.

 

Hartley himself had yet to put his robes on, still in the process of putting his contacts in and checking that the wands weren’t going to accidentally electrocute their users. They all seemed fine, and even though Bianca’s was less technically advanced, they all had the same level of craftsmanship to them. Cisco clearly loved his niece dearly from the effort he had gone into to creating this Halloween night for her.

 

Finally, Hartley shrugged on his green-edged robes and returned to the Ramons, wands in his hand. Bianca noticed him first, and let out a shout of joy seeing her wand.

 

“Por favor, ¿puedo tener mi varita?” Bianca murmured to Cisco.

 

Hartley handed the Hermione wand to Bianca. “Aquí estás.”

 

“Gracias,” Bianca blushed at Hartley, seemingly captivated by his ability to speak Spanish.

 

“Bianca,” Cisco chided as he grabbed his own wand. “Habla Inglés, por favor.”

 

“Sorry.”

 

“She gets a bit nervous talking to new people,” Cisco explained. “But I think she likes that you can speak Spanish. Always makes her like people more if they remind her of family.”

 

Hartley nodded, and didn’t think about his own family. “So Bianca,” he said kneeling down so he was closer to eye level with her. “How many spells do you know?”

 

Her face brightened. “Lots and lots! I can do Wingardium Leviosa, and Expelliarmus and Expecto Patronum!”

 

Cisco laughed at Bianca’s shouting right in Hartley’s face. “Maybe you should see if the wand works. Try Expecto Patronum and think your happy thought.”

 

Bianca screwed her nose up and shouted the incantation while pressing the button on the wand, causing the wand’s tip lighting up brightly against the wall of the cortex.

 

Bianca turned around to Cisco and Hartley, beaming at what she had done. “Did you see? I did the magic!”

 

“You sure did, chica,” Cisco smiled back. “What was you happy thought?”

 

“Having Halloween with you, tio Quito!”

 

Cisco went speechless for a moment, staring at his niece in wonderment. Hartley quickly interjected into the conversation before Bianca could take this silence badly.

 

“That sounds like a very happy memory, Bianca. I think that would be one of my happy memories too.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Sure, Bianca. Your tío makes it easy for me to feel happy around him.”

 

Hartley clamped his mouth shut immediately after saying that. It was too easy to be uncomfortably honest around young children. He risked a glance up to Cisco to see him already staring at Hartley intently. Hartley turned away quickly, fiddling with the end of his robe and willing his face not to go red.

 

The moment was broken when Bianca yelled Expelliarmus and caused him to jump backwards badly and pretend to drop his wand. Bianca laughed and began chasing Cisco around and Hartley moved back toward the side of the room.

 

This night was going to be exhausting.

 

*********

Cisco’s neighbours seemed delightful to Hartley. He had clearly warned them all about Bianca coming, but clearly he hadn’t warned them about how adorable Bianca was, because they had only gone to three houses and already people seemed so taken with her that she had almost filled up her candy bucket. With Bianca so focussed on her candy, Hartley and Cisco were able to just talk to each other leisurely, both about the Harry Potter series and other things. It was so easy to talk to Cisco because he was actually smart enough to understand what Hartley was saying, but could also offer different opinions that never occurred to Hartley. Bianca joined in occasionally, but would get distracted by trick-or-treating, or a moth, or the colour of a door or something else. If trick-or-treating was always like this, Hartley was clearly missing out on a lot in his childhood.

 

At the second last door Cisco had organised, a woman who looked about Cisco’s age answered the door. 

 

“Trick or treat!” sung out Bianca.

 

“Oh. My. Lord.” the woman replied in a slightly British accent. “I had no idea that I was being visited by Hermione Granger tonight.”

 

Bianca beamed wildly. “You know who I am?”

 

“Of course I do! I would recognise the brightest witch of her age anywhere. Are you here on holiday from Hogwarts?”

 

“Yeah! We were learning lots and lots but now we are on a break for Halloween.”

 

The woman nodded. “That’s good. Lots of dangerous creatures at Halloween.”

 

Bianca nodded back. “That’s why I’m here now.”

 

“And who’s this you have with you? Is this Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy I see?”

 

“Sure is,” Cisco answered. “Good to see you, Lottie.”

 

“You too. Now tell me Hermione,” Lottie leaned down to face Bianca again. “Have Harry and Draco been keeping you safe from Dementors and Voldemort?”

 

Bianca puffed out her chest. “I’ve been keeping myself safe cause I know lots of spells.”

 

Lottie nodded along. “I’m sure you do. But surely they should at least be helping?”

 

Bianca shook her head as Cisco looked at her with mock betrayal. “They aren’t very helpful. They’re too obsessed with each other. They just talk and talk to each other.”

 

Lottie smothered a laugh with her hand. “Well I think you definitely deserve lots of candy then,” she said scooping a large handful into Bianca’s bucket. “Those silly boys always paying attention to each other too much.”

 

“Yeah,” replied Bianca before bouncing off to the last door.

 

“Thanks for that, Lottie,” Cisco whispered to the woman.

 

“No problem, Cisco. She’s adorable and I can’t believe she’s already up to the Half-Blood Prince. That being obsessed with each other line? Hilarious. Have a good night.”

 

With that, Lottie shut the door and the two men walked toward Bianca.

 

“You let her read the sixth book? They get a bit more adult after the third.”

 

“I didn’t.” Cisco turned to Hartley. “She’s only halfway through Prisoner. She’s still terrified of Sirius Black.”

 

“Does she have siblings who could have told her about that line in Half-Blood Prince then?”

 

“No,” Cisco drew the word out as though he were still thinking about his answer as he said it.

 

The men finally caught up to Bianca and Cisco knelt next to her.

 

“Hey chica? Did one of your cousins tell you about Harry being obsessed with Draco somewhere?”

 

Bianca shook her head. “No he’s not. He thinks Malfoy is evil.”

 

“Then why did you say we were obsessed with each other,” Hartley asked. “If you think I’m evil?”

 

“I wasn’t saying Harry and Malfoy, I was saying tío Quito and you, Hartley.”

 

Before Hartley or Cisco could say anything, Bianca had flounced up to the final door and knocked, forcing the conversation to end.

 

Cisco looked incredibly confused, and it may have been that he was blushing or overheating in his robes that led to his slightly reddened face. Either way, Hartley had definitely been missing out if all trick-or-treating was like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hbp pg 383 "Harry, however, had never been less interested in Quidditch; he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy." uwu
> 
>  
> 
> i know i made up bianca but honestly i love her cw make her happen pls


	8. Ghosts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the ghost stories dub is gold and i recommend everyone watch some of it, even if it's a best bits youtube compilation.
> 
> hooray for mostly dialogue driven stories. hopefully this doesn't come off too clunky coz it's my first time trying

Iris sighed. “Cisco, are you sure we have to do this in the Pipeline?”

 

Cisco whirled around from where he was directing the rest of Team Flash to the centre of the pipeline.

 

“Yes. Atmosphere is key for ghost stories, and this place is way spooky.”

 

Caitlin nodded in agreement. “This place is pretty scary, even when we don’t have many people housed down here.”

 

“That’s kinda scary in and of itself,” Jesse added. “Things aren’t done like this on my earth.”

 

“It is a bit weird,” said Wally from beside Jesse.

 

Hartley stayed silent. He was the only person who had spent time imprisoned down here. It wasn’t a fun time.

 

“Anyway,” Cisco said, “we’re here for ghost stories, so lets sit down in a circle or something and get this started.”

 

The two Wests, Jesse, Caitlin, Cisco and Hartley sat themselves in a rough circle around the light of a phone.

 

“Does anyone want to start us off? Iris?” Wally turned to his sister expectantly.

 

“With a ghost story?”

 

Everyone in the group nodded in sync.

 

“Umm, okay then. So, there was this group of kids, and one of them, a girl who had a younger brother had a cat that sometimes seemed so aware of what was happening around them it was like they could understand what everyone was saying.

 

So this one night, they’re walking around a school and the little brother disappears, and the cat runs right after him, and the other three kids heard a deep mysterious voice coming from the cat, and it was really trippy-”

 

“Wait a second,” Jesse interrupted. “Things may be different on Earth-2, but that sounds like the plot to a show called Ghost Stories back home.”

 

Iris had the decency to blush. “It is. I’m watching it with Linda at the moment and it’s awful.”

 

Jesse beamed in agreement.

 

“Are you saying that was the best anyone has?” Cisco wasn’t pouting at all. “Some cliche anime plot? Aren’t you guys taking this seriously?”

 

“I don’t particularly want to think about ghosts of people I once knew while we’re in the Pipeline, Cisco.”

 

“I’m with Iris. Sorry Cisco, this place doesn’t have fun memories for me,” Hartley added.

 

The mood immediately sobered and Iris leaned into the shoulder Caitlin offered her. Hartley was pulled toward Cisco and felt himself relax slightly into the crook of his neck.

 

“I didn’t even think about that. Sorry guys,” Cisco tugged his arm around Hartley and looked apologetically at Iris.

 

The room remained silent for a brief moment, before Wally broke it. “So Cisco, do you have any ghost stories for us?”

 

Cisco shook off his bad mood but didn’t remove his arm from Hartley. “Why must you ask questions you already know the answer to, grasshopper?”

 

Cisco grinned wildly over the torchlight, and everyone else in the circle leaned in slightly.

 

“Nearly 200 years ago lived an English thief, by the name of James Craddock. He was a vicious man, and enjoyed it when he had to hurt someone to get his loot.

 

But after some time, England seemed too easy for James, and he set his sights on America; the promised land, land of opportunity. Although-” Cisco cut his story and evaporated the mood he was building, “none of us would really be able to live a decent life back then what with it being a racist, sexist, homophobic time.”

 

Iris and Wally nodded in tandem, and Hartley inclined his head slightly, still nestled on Cisco’s collarbone.

 

“Anyway though, he came into contact with a Native American couple, called Nighthawk and Cinnamon. He worked with them as partners and was able to gain riches that he had only dreamed of in England. But it wasn’t enough. He was struck by the beauty of Cinnamon, Frollo-style, and one night he tried to steal Cinnamon from Nighthawk.

 

He was killed by Nighthawk in cold blood, but that wasn’t the end of him.

 

See, back in England a Romani Queen foretold that Craddock would meet his death by noble blood, and wouldn’t be able to rest before his killer had died. So he returned, a ghostly reflection of his past self and made it his goal to kill Nighthawk and Cinnamon. But even when the lovers died, they were, like, I dunno, taken by the spirits of their gods and reincarnated, so Craddock can never find peace.

 

He roams the land, trying to find those who killed him and repay his debt. Meanwhile, he’s become sadistic, and willing to take even a bit of relief from sending others on. And his burial site is right. Below. Us. Now.”

 

The phone in the centre of the circle began vibrating right as Cisco finished his sentence, jarring the circle from their reverie. Moments later, Caitlin’s phone buzzed as well, then Hartley’s, then Iris’s.

 

“Hey Cisco, did you plan this?” Wally leaned over to read his sister’s phone. “Oh you so did, didn’t you? It’s even about ghosts.”

 

“What? No I didn’t? Why would I even do that I didn’t know when I was going or how to…” Cisco trailed off. “That is weird though.”

 

Hartley pushed his phone above his head so Cisco could read the screen more easily.

 

“It does seem kind of unlikely that ghosts would be attacking Chubbuck this very second,” Hartley said.

 

“Yeah it is. Maybe we should check it out.” Even as he said it, Cisco was dislodging Hartley from his chest and moving to grab his glasses.

 

“Should we call Barry?” Caitlin was already moving to dial for him as she said it.

 

“You can’t,” Iris said. “He and Dad are on a recon mission in Key West at the moment and he has to maintain radio silence.”

 

Hartley stood up. “I’ll go then.”

 

At the exact moment, Cisco and Wally spoke.

 

“No way- it’s too dangerous!”

 

“Nice dude! Kick some ghost ass out there.”

 

Wally and Cisco stared at each other for a tense moment, before Hartley stepped between them to grab his gloves.

 

“I wasn’t actually asking, nor do I think we should waste time arguing. Try and keep up, Cisquito.”

 

At the mention of the old nickname, Cisco bounded toward the door to the cortex. “You keep up with me, Pipe-kid.”

 

Chubbuck was already chaos when the two heroes got to the outskirts. It was almost entirely residential, so screaming children seemed to be every three steps. Hartley surreptitiously turned his hearing aids down as he and Vibe battled the stampede headed away from the strange light around the main intersection.

 

By the time Hartley and Cisco had broken through the crowds of people the centre of the roundabout was covered with ghostly beings.

 

“If there is ectoplasmic residue, we really should grab a sample for Caitlin to examine,” Hartley said. “And even if these ghosts are real, they look incorporeal. I don’t think we need to be too afraid of them.”

 

“Okay then,” Cisco said. “But what I wouldn’t give for Kate McKinnon to be here right now, just in case.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CUZ BUSTIN' MAKES US FEEL GOOD YEAH (that scene in ghostbusters made me ridiculously queer. and i say that having a gf)
> 
>  
> 
> there was going to be more about how, "damn nighthawk and cinnamon sound a lot like kendra and carter, weird right?" but i just wanted this published. imagine it there if you want. don't let me stop you.


	9. Creatures of the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> vibe and the pied piper investigate the ghostly happenings of chubbuck, and face more otherworldly terrors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm setting myself the low bar of finishing this by easter just so it can be done so bug me on tumblr; medusalith-mycelium to hurry the fuck up if it's getting close. i seriously need it.

With Caitlin and Iris in both sets of comms, Hartley and Cisco slowly edged toward the phantasms, while also trying to keep people from hurting one another in their haste to leave their homes.

 

“Okay,” said Iris. “Real talk, I have no idea what to do about ghosts that doesn’t stem from movies.”

 

“Me neither,” said Cisco. “But Har-, I mean Piper here says they look incorporeal for the moment, so hopefully they won’t cause too much damage before we stop them.” 

 

“That makes sense from the readings I’m getting here,” Caitlin said. “I can see the ghosts from cameras and stuff, but there isn’t any thermal, electromagnetic or even radioactive sign that they even exists on the scans.”

 

“Weird,” said Hartley. “I’m gonna shoot at them. Low frequency, high intensity. That worked on the Time Wraith.”

 

“Remember when we called them Dementors?” Cisco said fondly. “When we realised you were just as big a nerd as us, just with a jerky layer on top?”

 

“Don’t remind me,” Hartley replied as he lined up a shot in the middle of the crowd of ghosts. “That was the beginning of the end of having you respect me as a figure of importance.”

 

“Yeah, but it started us becoming friends with you,” said Iris.

 

Cisco opened his mouth to say something else, but it was drowned out by the hum of the Pied Piper’s gloves shooting a wave of sound at the ghosts. It passed right through them, rippling them as it did, until it ran into a wall.

 

Vibe and the Piper exchanged a look, then cautiously moved closer to the unperturbed ghosts until Cisco could reach out and touch one. Which he did.

 

The ghost didn’t even move, and Cisco’s hand passed right through it the same way Hartley’s beam had.

 

“Weird.”

 

Hartley nodded his agreement, then turned to survey the rest of the area. “This part of Chubbuck looks pretty evacuated. I don’t think the ghosts will cause trouble, or they even can, but I say we lay some electromagnetic charges around them and then continue forward.”

 

Cisco nodded back at Hartley and rummaged around his costume before pulling out some blinking devices.

 

“You carry electromagnetic charges around on your person?”

 

“Hey, we’re using them aren’t we?”

 

Hartley didn’t dignify Cisco with a response.

 

They cautiously continued down the street until the terse silence was broken by an unworldly screech.

 

From a side road emerged an inhuman creature. Ashen-faced, with fangs curving toward their chin, the monster loped toward the two superheroes with impossible speed.

 

Before Hartley could properly register what was even happening, he was being pulled behind Cisco, who was facing the vampiric beast head-on while holding Hartley away from it.

 

Time slowed as the vampire lunged for Cisco. He scrunched his eyes up. His grip on Hartley’s arm tightened. Hartley looked back toward Cisco and felt a strange sense of adrenalised calm. His gloves hung slack on his hands as the creature bridged the last few inches between them and their prey.

 

And then promptly fell right through them and continued on its path.

 

Both men stood dumbfounded for a moment.

 

“That’s not normal for vampires, is it?”

 

“No.” Cisco didn’t seem willing to expand on his point. His chest was still heaving and his grip on Hartley hadn’t loosened, only shifted to his hand.

 

Hartley fell against Cisco’s side and tried to collect himself. He was used to being in life-threatening situations when he wore his costume, but there was something about having Dracula coming after you that garnered a reaction common street thugs didn’t.

 

The two stood there almost wrapped around each other for a time, until an awkward cough in their earpieces jolted them apart.

 

“Okay, so as far as I can tell, all these things around you aren’t actually there,” Caitlin said. “Like, the ghosts could be explained on not having any readings, but that isn’t explainable.”

 

“And it actually makes sense,” Iris added. “I mean, there isn’t a lot of property damage, and all the stuff that is there looks like it could have been made in self-defence by people trying not to get eaten.”

 

Hartley swallowed in an attempt to make his voice sound normal.

 

“So you’re telling me that all this is just some crazy shared hallucination?”

 

“Something like that,” Iris replied.

 

Cisco was muttering under his breath about Gotham seeming less crazy than Central City.

 

“So, press on?” Hartley asked. “I mean, this has to be coming from somewhere nearby, right?”

 “Right,” said Iris. “I’ll see if I can scan for weird heat signatures or something around you. Be back in a moment.”

 

The comm sets both turned off, leaving Hartley and Cisco alone again.

 

“So, vampires, huh?”

 

“Yeah.” Cisco replied. “I’m just disappointed that we weren’t attacked by the sparkly ones. We had to deal with Nosferatu on steroids.”

 

“Yeah.” Hartley was staring intently at the ground near his shoes, rather than Cisco. 

 

“You were going to let it bite you instead of me.”

 

Cisco’s head whipped around to Hartley, who was still refusing to look up. “I mean, yeah of course I was. I wasn’t going to let you die on me like that.” There was an awkward pause as Cisco coughed slightly.

“I mean, vampire Hartley would take the brooding levels to a whole new world of unbearableness. I was saving myself from that just as much as I was saving you.”

 

They were back into comfortable teasing territory. Hartley finally turned to Cisco and smiled. “Well thank goodness you weren’t forced to deal with my dark, brooding nature. Especially if I didn’t even sparkle.”

 

Cisco grinned back. “Right.” Cisco opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but the burst from both comm units drowned him out.

 

“Okay, guys I’m seeing something weird about a block down and to the east of you,” said Iris. “You should be able to see some weird stuff there, it’s the source of all this stuff so it probably looks like a tacky haunted house.”

 

“Copy that,” Hartley said, then started toward the co-ordinates Iris mentioned. “Let’s go, Vibe.”

 

Cisco’s step faltered imperceptibly, before he pasted a grin on his face. “Let’s do this, Piper. This guy is no match for our Halloween spirit!”

 

Both heroes marched down the street, Hartley checking for people still trapped in their houses, while Cisco vibed any potential threats. By the time they got to the house, Cisco’s optimism had waned somewhat, and Hartley was barely paying attention to when a werewolf would try to bite him in half, or some damp horse whinnied insistently beside him.

 

The house would have been obvious, even without Iris and Caitlin suggesting where it was when the men looked at it. It seemed to ripple in the night sky like a fire, and mythical creatures were striding out the front door every few moments. Also, noticeably, while all the other houses in Chubbuck were stereotypically suburban, this one rose above them by a story and had far more Gothic architecture.

 

“Alright, so the house seems to have more electronics inside than the outside spectres,” Caitlin said. “We’ll keep an eye on things here and help you through, but be careful.”

 

Piper and Vibe nodded to each other as the door creaked open ominously, inviting them in.

 

As soon as they crossed the threshold, Hartley heard a fizzle from his earpiece. “Caitlin?”

 

There was no response.

 

“Iris? Wally? Can you guys hear me?”

 

Cisco repeated Hartley’s actions with his own communicator to the same conclusion. 

 

“The house must have some field around it to keep out communicative devices,” said Hartley. “Because my hearing aids are still working fine.”

 

“Same with my goggles, ” Cisco replied. “So we just need to go through the spooky haunted house with no tech support. No big deal.” Even as he said it, Cisco found himself standing closer to Hartley than he had been when they first entered the house. Hartley didn’t seem to mind at all, even shifting infinitesimally closer.

 

But it didn’t change the fact that they were on their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's past valentine's day. i'm finishing a halloween fic. don't talk to me about it. also the damp horse is a kelpie and those things terrify me way more than vamps or werewolves.  
> and yeah calendar man is a fucking lame villain so i'm bolstering him with an adapted version of his powers given in the batman brave the bold episode with bat-mite in which he becomes calendar king. my city now.

**Author's Note:**

> what continuity is this in you may ask? and i would be ecstatic to know also


End file.
